2019, March 17th: Birmingham Iron 42 At San Diego Fleet 39

It is difficult to believe that it's already been five years, to the day, since this game took place.  

Text by Evan Dudley for al.com, images lifted from the team's Instagram account and uncredited.

Quarterback Luis Perez came off the bench for injured starter Keith Price and threw three touchdowns, and he led a final drive that ended with Nick Novak’s 43-yard game-winning field goal as time expired to lift the Birmingham Iron (4-2) to a 32-29 victory over the San Diego Fleet at SDCCU Stadium in San Diego. The victory ends Birmingham’s two-game losing streak.

Perez, who returned to his hometown of San Diego, finished 27-of-49 for 359 yards with touchdown passes of 13, 83 and 23 yards in the victory, while also throwing two interceptions that resulted in a missed field goal and a go-ahead touchdown for San Diego late in the third quarter.

Price (above) was cleared to return after his injury but Iron coach Tim Lewis made the call to stick with his opening-day starter, who led the Iron to a season-high 448 yards of offense. L’Damien Washington, who finished with four catches for 128 yards and two touchdowns, was the leading receiver for Birmingham while Jamal Robinson, who made his debut with the Iron, brought down two passes for 78 yards.

Perez entered the game on Birmingham’s third possession – facing a 3rd-and-10 from the San Diego 45-yard line – and with his first snap threw a 19-yard strike to Quinton Patton for a first down into Fleet territory.

Four plays later, Perez gave the Iron its first lead of the day, 6-3, with his first passing touchdown of the season on a 13-yard dump off to Trent Richardson, who fought his way through a swarm of San Diego defenders for his first receiving score of the season.

Perez threw his second score of the game two drives later with an 83-yard pass to Washington to give the Iron a 12-3 lead midway through the second quarter. The Fleet answered with a three-play, 75-yard drive that was capped with a 1-yard touchdown pass from Mike Bercovici to tight end Ben Johnson.

Birmingham got a 23-yard field goal from Nick Novak with 17 seconds to go in the half to enter the break with a 15-9 lead.

Richardson, who finished with 46 rushing and 44 receiving yards, scored his league-leading ninth rushing touchdown on a 2-yard plunge to cap a nine-play, 65-yard drive on Birmingham’s opening drive of the second half.

San Diego answered with back-to-back touchdowns on a 2-yard run and 12-yard catch from Terrell Watson to put the Fleet up 23-21 with 5:05 to go in the third quarter. After Perez’s second pick of the game, he rebounded with a 23-yard touchdown pass and 2-point conversion to Washington following a interception by Birmingham’s Bradley Sylve.

The Fleet tied the game at 29-all with 4:32 remaining on Bercovici’s third passing score of the day to Francis Owusu, but the ensuing 2-point conversion was unsuccessful.

Perez answered by leading the Iron on a 10-play, 50-yard drive. Perez was 3-of-3 for 25 yards and ran for 16 yards on two carries, setting up Birmingham at the down to the Fleet 25-yard line. Novak’s kick sealed the victory, as Birmingham used the the final 4:32 for its game-winning drive.

Hell of a game, obviously, especially coming off two losses, but...it was all about to start coming apart.
On March 20th, al.com reported that two members of the Iron front office had departed. Fans of pro football in Birmingham had seen this movie before and knew the how it ended. 

L'Damian Washington was named the Offensive Player of the Week for his performance. 

Extended game footage below by Highlight Heaven. 

Bo Scarbrough Announces Retirement

tuscaloosanews.com - Former Alabama football running back Bo Scarbrough announced his retirement from football on Saturday.

“You can love this game all you want. But at the end of the day, the game can’t love you back because it’s not a person; it’s a ball,” Scarbrough said. “I have so much respect for the people still playing. And when it’s your time, you’ll know it’s your time.”

Scarbrough was a two-time national champion at Alabama (2015, 2017) and a two-time USFL champion with the Birmingham Stallions (2022, 2023). He spent most of the 2023 season on the Stallions' injured reserve list and was reselected by the team in the UFL dispersal draft, the player reallocation process that took place after the USFL and XFL merger.

"We've got this thing called the fourth quarter: discipline, effort, toughness, pride, and most importantly, commitment," Scarbrough said at his retirement press conference, citing his former coach Nick Saban's fourth quarter program. "You've got to be committed to play this game if you're going to play. If you're not committed, it's not going to work for you, so for me, my heart, you know, it was my time."

...

Scarbrough was a seventh-round pick by the Dallas Cowboys in 2018, though his only NFL action came in 2019 with the Detroit Lions. He joined the Stallions midway through the USFL's inaugural season in 2022 and helped them win a league championship with 13 carries for 135 yards and a touchdown in the final.

1961, Dec. 6th: Top Vulcan Backs

I happened to notice that this was post #100 on this little blog of mine, and what better subject matter than the city's first (semi?) pro team? 

The image and caption below were featured in the Huntsville Times as promotion to an exhibition contest between the two named teams. Images of the 1961 Vulcans are hard to come by, so any such find is greeted with much enthusiasm.

On to the next 100 and #GiddyUp!

2022, June 4th: New Orleans Breakers 09, Birmingham Stallions 10

The Stallions are on the mind today, as they gather for training camp in preparation for the 2024 UFL season. As we wait for updates about that, let's again look back on one of their victories from the 2022 season, their second against New Orleans.

With the win, the Stallions were named the South Division Champions, and clinched the first seed in the USFL Playoffs. The Breakers came into the game with a 5-2 record.

The first few paragraphs are from this WBRC article but not credited to anyone in particular. The additional text and bullet points following the jump catch image are from al.com's weekly round up following that weekend's action and are credited to Mark Inabinett. The photos, as is usually the case, were lifted from Instagram and uncredited. 

Stallions quarterback J’Mar Smith scored the first touchdown of the game when he threw a 27-yard touchdown to Adrian Hardy. The Breakers would later come back and take a 9-7 lead when running back Anthony Jones found the end zone. The Stallions would take the lead for good when Brandon Aubrey kicked a 29-yard field goal to seal the game.

It was a defensive battle between the Stallions and the Breakers, with the Stallions defense getting three interceptions on the day, while the Breakers getting one interception and two fumble recoveries as well.

Kicking woes plagued both teams, with both Stallions kicker Brandon Aubrey and Breakers kicker Taylor Bertolet both missing two field goals, with Bertolet also missing an extra point.

Former McGill-Toolen Catholic High School standout Marlon Williams recorded his first 100-yard receiving game as the Birmingham Stallions secured the USFL South Division title with a 10-9 victory over the New Orleans Breakers on Saturday.

At Legion Field in Birmingham, Williams caught seven receptions for 109 yards as the Stallions improved to 8-0 in the USFL’s inaugural season. Williams rebounded after missing last week’s game because of a knee injury. With 379 receiving yards, Williams ranks third in the USFL. He has 22 receptions and three touchdowns.

Birmingham took the lead on a 29-yard field goal by Brandon Aubrey with 1:44 to play and sealed the victory with Josh Shaw’s interceptions at the Stallions 32-yard line with six seconds remaining. 

• Stallions cornerback Tae Hayes (Decatur) made four tackles and broke up a pass.
  
  
• Stallions running back Bo Scarbrough (Northridge, Alabama) ran for 54 yards on 14 carries and caught two passes for 5 yards.

 
The other interceptions by Birmingham were recorded by Trey Baldwin and Tyree Robinson. Defensive end Jonathan Newsome recorded the only sack for the Stallions. Christian McFarland was the team's leading tackler with nine, including 6 solo. 

2024, February 7th: "Ramsay LB Quinton ‘QB’ Reese signs with Alabama"

From Evan Dudley, al.com. The full version can be accessed through this link. The image below is from Ramsay's announcement on X yesterday. 

QB Reese is officially a part of the Alabama football program and did not let it go unnoticed with a loud and boisterous “Roll Tide” as he lay pen to parchment.

The 3-star Ramsay linebacker signed with the Crimson Tide on Wednesday morning in a ceremony at Birmingham’s Ramsay High School.

Although committed to the Crimson Tide since September, Reese decided not to make it official during the early signing period and opted to sign with his high school teammates.

“I wanted to enjoy the process and definitely wanted to sign at the same time with my teammates,” Reese said. “Those guys are my family and I wouldn’t be where I’m at without them.”

Reese was a three-year starter for the Rams and was named the ASWA Class 5A Lineman of the Year this past season. He finished with more than 300 tackles in his career and is No. 40 among the 247 composite rankings of top seniors in the state.

Demarcus Lacey: North Alabama ---> Jacksonville State

Taking a moment to look over some signing day results with the morning coffee.

Jacksonville State's summary of the day's events includes transfer Demarcus Lacey, who comes over from North Alabama. A portion of his bio is copied below. Image credit is unavailable but it comes from Lacey's bio on the North Alabama website.

WR • 6-0 • 181 • JR • Birmingham, Ala./Pleasant Grove HS/North Alabama

Ran for 589 yards and three touchdowns on 121 carries as a sophomore, while also hauling in 21 receptions for 212 yards … in 2022, was a third-team All-ASUN Conference selection as a freshman after catching 19 passes for 316 yards and an average of 16.6 yards per catch and rushing for 215 yards on 34 carries … prepped at Pleasant Grove High School in Birmingham, Ala., where he helped lead the Spartans to two state championship game appearances … a first-team all-state selection and named the AHSAA Class 5A Back of the Year.

"Tuskegee Football Announces Coaching Staff Additions"

What follows is a portion of a press release, sent earlier today, by Tuskegee football. It is cropped in order to isolate the Birmingham-specific content.

TUSKEGEE, Ala. __ On Tuesday, Tuskegee head football coach, Aaron James, announced the addition of three new assistant coaches to his staff for the upcoming 2024 season. James had added another familiar face to Golden Tiger fans to the mold in former football star Harry Williams, to serve as offensive coordinator after serving in the same role at Alabama State for the last two seasons.

Williams joins the Golden Tiger staff after one of the most successful careers in program history. A native of Birmingham, Ala., Williams was a standout wide receiver at Tuskegee and had a successful playing career as he finished with 83 receptions for 1,584 yards (19.1 avg.) and eight touchdowns. An accomplished kick returner, he averaged 23.8 yards per kick return on 19 returns for a total of 453 yards.

After a successful collegiate career, Williams was drafted in the seventh round by the New York Jets in 2005. He has also spent time with the Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, Houston Texans and the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europa before jumping into the coaching ranks in 2009.

The image is from Williams' Alabama State bio. That bio also includes the following: "He’s married to the former Joell Washington of Charleston, South Carolina. They have two daughters and one son...."

In looking into Williams' Tuskegee playing career more, I came upon a summary of his school's 27-17 victory against Alabama State in the Turkey Day Classic during his final season in 2004. It concludes as follows: 

Evidently Joell made her decision! 😇

Here's a picture of Williams in action from the September 6th, 2003, Montgomery Advertiser. Prior to playing for Tuskegee, Williams attended Jackson-Olin High School.

1984, July 5th, Birmingham Post-Herald: "Bad Luck Fails To Deck Talton"